Lost Molds and Found Dinnerware:
Rediscovering Eva Zeisel's Hallcraft February 11, 1999 - September
9, 1999
In the special exhibition, Lost Molds and
Found Dinnerware: Rediscovering Eva Zeisel's Hallcraft,
Zeisel's strong yet elegant, fluid yet playful dinnerware designs
are juxtaposed along side the equally powerful original plaster
molds created in the 1950s at the Hall China Company in East Liverpool,
Ohio. The molds served as the tools for mass producing this
beautifully designed "best-selling dinner set in the United States."
For nearly four decades after production of these captivating
wares ceased, the original Hallcraft master molds appeared to
be lost, and then through the perseverance of Eva Zeisel and others,
the molds were rediscovered in 1998. It is a story not nearly
as memorable as the designs themselves, but with a happy ending.
The joy of creating beautiful things for people
"to please the eye, and invite the hand to touch" is evident
in all of Eva Zeisel's designs, whether produced in ceramic, plastic,
metal, wood or glass. She is best known for her ceramic designs
including the dinnerware service commissioned in the early 1940's
for the Museum of Modern Art. Yet the dinnerware which became
"America's fastest-selling modern dinnerware," and Zeisel's
most popular design was produced by the Hall China Company in
the 1950s -- Hallcraft I (Tomorrow's Classic). The Hallcraft
II (Century)line was introduced a few years later, and
while considered by some to be aesthetically equal or superior
to Hallcraft I, it never became the commercial success of Tomorrow's
Classic. At the time, Zeisel was teaching at the Pratt
Institute and designed the number one selling dinnerware of the
1950s as a freelance designer.
Hallcraft
molds in the Hall China moldshop
Production of both Hallcraft lines at Hall China
stopped in the late 1950's; the molds sat dormant for decades.
Periodically Eva Zeisel would query the management at Hall China concerning
the whereabouts of the original plaster block molds. Ultimately
there was a question about whether the molds had survived leaking
roofs, reorganization of the mold storage area, etc. Persistence
on the part of Eva Zeisel paid off in 1998, when she asked a former
modeler at Hall China, William Walker, for his assistance in discovering
whether the original Hallcraft molds were still in existence.
Dr. Walker, who now holds a Ph.D. in ceramic engineering and works
at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, made
phone calls and site visits to Hall China and a majority of the lost
molds were subsequently rediscovered. The molds for the recovered
jiggered pieces were stacked many feet high in the deep, dusty and
sometimes damp recesses of the factory, while the slipcasting molds
were on the highest storage shelves -- well out of the view of the
present factory workers and well out of the memory view of most Hall
China management. The pieces were transported to Alfred, New
York, to be stored until the pieces could be safely moved to a factory
to reproduce this most popular of dinnerware. The molds that
were once feared "lost" are now found.
The special exhibition, Lost Molds and
Found Dinnerware: Rediscovering Eva Zeisel's Hallcraft,
gives viewers a chance to see the original master molds that
are seldom seen by anyone outside the factory. These plaster
molds complete the story of how a designer must design objects
for production that make "the best use of the limitations imposed
by manufacturing, merchandising or functional requirements." These
found molds will allow a new audience, based on a generation
of diners and collectors not born during the heyday of Hallcraft
production in the 1950s, to hopefully be able to purchase this
beautiful dinnerware at fine department stores, and museum shops,
in addition to stumbling upon the occasional originals in antique
shops and your finer garage sales.
Mold for Hallcraft Classic
gravy boat
Mold
for Hallcraft Classic jug
Mold for Hallcraft Salt and Pepper
Holiday
pattern
Mulberry
pattern
Spring
pattern
Hallcraft
Stamp
(front/back side)
Exhibition
Catalogue Available
Lost Molds and Found Dinnerware:
Rediscovering Eva Zeisel's Hallcraft
by Margaret Carney
24 pages. 24 black and white and 5 color photographs. 1999.
$20.00 prepaid
